7. Beyond the City

"Captain, reporting in: the scene has been completely cleared. We've already coordinated with the security squad regarding the damaged bus stop, citing a traffic accident with a hit-and-run driver as the cause. All surrounding surveillance footage has also been deleted. Should we withdraw?"

The man dressed in black snapped a textbook salute, standing straight and sharp as he addressed Lin Doudou, his words carrying a steely edge.

City Seventeen, the most remote of the satellite cities from the main metropolis, mirrored other cities in its six-ring layout and its dense clusters of somber steel towers. Yet, when it came to infrastructure, it barely qualified as a fourth-tier city.

Here, the gulf between rich and poor yawned wide. Within the innermost three rings lay the untouchable districts of the wealthy, where the air was thick with the intoxicating decadence of nightlife. The sky was shrouded by enormous digital screens, beneath which dazzling holographic panoramas shimmered. Mechanical sentinels patrolled ceaselessly, maintaining perfect order...

Most striking of all were the dozen or so Cloudspires that soared between the inner and outer rings, each connected by thick steel walls. At the base of each Cloudspire stood a city gate, guarded by mechanical enforcers.

This was the boundary—an unbridgeable chasm for ordinary folk.

It severed the inner rings from the outer with brutal finality.

Outside the third ring, factories and workshops toiled around the clock. The air was thick with smog, pollution choking every breath. Industrial and domestic refuse littered the streets, and the buildings bore the scars of decades of neglect. People hurried past, clothes threadbare, their hardship and resignation etched into every line of their faces.

Lu Feng had once believed in the basic equality of all human life. Yet every time he gazed up at those immense Cloudspires and the walls forged of iron and steel, disappointment settled in his heart.

Equality, it seemed, only meant that all would die eventually—but even death was unequal. The wealthy within the inner rings could swap out any failing organ for a new one, granting themselves renewed life. For those outside, the only thing to be replaced was their fate.

Lu Feng emerged from the Meditation Zone just in time to see the man in black salute Lin Doudou.

His eyes widened in shock.

He had just witnessed this scene moments ago, eyes closed in meditation.

Did that mean that time spent in the Meditation Zone didn’t elapse at all in the real world?

How could that be? He’d fought the monk, listened to an entire story...

Was this the power of a master of time—a being who could spend ages elsewhere while the world outside stood still? Or perhaps they could control the flow of time in a given area?

Lu Feng couldn’t make sense of it. The monk had never explained. He would have to ask next time.

"Let’s go back," Lin Doudou ordered.

With a crisp gesture from the man in black, everyone sprinted toward their respective SUVs.

"Lu Feng, you can’t stay here. You have to come back with me." At some point, Lin Doudou had stepped up to him.

"Why?" Lu Feng looked up at her. Beside him, Xiaoxue watched his every move, as though afraid he might do something reckless.

"Traversers aren’t allowed to remain outside without proper assessment. Especially someone who’s just crossed over," Lin Doudou replied calmly.

"And what if I refuse?" Lu Feng asked again.

"Lu Feng, don’t be like this." Lin Doudou’s expression tightened. After a moment’s hesitation, she added, "Someone wants to see you."

"I don’t want to see anyone. Including you." Lu Feng’s voice was cold as he lowered his head.

Lin Doudou’s face went ashen. In all her time knowing Lu Feng, she’d never expected him to refuse her outright—yet he had.

Even the man in black beside her was left speechless, his dark complexion darkening further, as though someone had smeared soot across his face.

"Lu Feng, I’m begging you, please don’t make things harder for me," Lin Doudou pleaded, her tone almost supplicating. The man in black stared at her as if she’d sprouted a second head—since when had the fearsome Captain Lin ever been so... gentle?

“You were the one who deceived me, and then tried to kill me,” Lu Feng replied flatly.

“I already told you it wasn’t intentional, I—” Lin Doudou’s face flushed crimson as she tried to explain, flustered.

"Fine." Just as she was speaking, Lu Feng interrupted.

Lin Doudou stood there, mouth agape, unable to speak for a long moment.

The man in black looked between them in disbelief. When had anyone ever seen Captain Lin handled like this? She was a legend in Bureau Nine—a true iron lady, the notorious "female tyrant."

Inwardly, the man in black gave Lu Feng a silent thumbs-up—what a legend!

Lu Feng, of course, knew where Lin Doudou meant to take him. He agreed because he was curious—what kind of place was this, who were these people? Perhaps the answers he sought lay there.

Lin Doudou had to bring him back to the Time Bureau because Lu Feng was simply too dangerous. If he caused any incident outside, the entire Bureau would be held responsible.

Besides, there really was someone important who insisted on seeing him.

Soon, a convoy of vehicles accelerated out beyond the sixth ring.

Dawn had only just broken. The snow’s reflection made everything visible despite the early hour. The convoy sliced through the white expanse like a sleek leopard, zigzagging through the city, the landscape flying past their windows.

In the lead SUV, Lu Feng and Lin Doudou sat on either side of the back seat, Xiaoxue between them.

From the moment they boarded, Lu Feng’s gaze had been fixed on Lin Doudou. More than once, she caught him out of the corner of her eye, her heart pounding, her breath short, forcing herself to stare out the window.

"Big sister, he’s been staring at you this whole time," blurted the naive Xiaoxue, shattering the silence.

"What?" Lin Doudou whipped her head around, meeting Lu Feng’s mocking, almost amused gaze.

Her cheeks flared red, the color spreading all the way to her neck.

Up front, the man in black, hearing Xiaoxue’s words, panicked and slammed his foot on the gas.

The 2.0T off-road vehicle shot forward like a startled animal.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to!" the driver babbled, glancing in the rearview mirror. Seeing no one was upset, he exhaled in deep relief, heart still pounding. Good heavens, if the captain found him eavesdropping on something so private, would she castrate him?

Witnessing Lin Doudou’s blushing face and bashful demeanor, as if she wanted to disappear into the seat, Lu Feng let out a smug, derisive snort.

Serves you right—just collecting a bit of interest for tricking and trying to kill me.

After an hour and a half, the convoy reached the outskirts.

They sped straight toward a towering mountain. Though it appeared they would crash, the man in black didn’t slow down.

Lu Feng frowned and glanced at Lin Doudou. She had recovered from her previous embarrassment but made no move to stop the driver, letting him floor the accelerator.

As they reached the mountain, the expected collision never came. Instead, the SUV slipped seamlessly through the rock face, as if passing through a portal in a sci-fi film.

"Incredible!" Despite not knowing how it was done, Lu Feng couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

"This mountain is fitted with a spatial barrier. Pass through it, and you arrive at the headquarters of the Time Bureau," Lin Doudou explained, directing her words at Lu Feng without looking at him.

"The Time Bureau?" Lu Feng recalled her mentioning it once in the alley, and again just now.

"Someone will explain it all soon," Lin Doudou replied, falling silent.

Once through the barrier, the world opened up.

Strangely, there was no snow inside, and it was as bright as midday, as if they’d entered a different dimension.

In the distance, a massive, inverted pyramid-shaped building loomed.

Its surface was a deep, lustrous black, standing solitary and imposing, as though forged from black gold. Sunlight slid across the building in waves of dark radiance, hinting at unfathomable mysteries, the whole scene dreamlike and unreal.

Even though Lu Feng had braced himself for something extraordinary, the sight still left him stunned. Who would have thought that, hidden on the outskirts of City Seventeen, there existed such a miraculous place—completely cut off from the outside world, seemingly impossible, yet undeniably real.